DUOPOLY BLUES IN THE ROCKET CITY

When Gray Media closed on its $171 million deal to swallow up Allen Media Group’s stations earlier this year, everyone inside market #78 knew what was coming next.

Now, the other shoe is officially dropping in Huntsville, Alabama.

The consolidation between NBC affiliate WAFF 48 and ABC affiliate WAAY 31 has kicked into overdrive, and local viewers, along with station staffers, are watching an era come to an abrupt close.

Longtime competitors who used to fight tooth and nail for scoops on Monte Sano are now finding out where they land on the new corporate roster, or if they land anywhere at all. Operations are merging, talent is being shuffled across channels, and the once-proud standalone newsrooms are morphing into a unified, cost-cutting hub run out of WAFF’s building.

The suits in Atlanta, of course, love to spin these duopolies with corporate buzzwords like "pooling resources" and "strengthening regional coverage."

Translation: Fewer voices, shared scripts, combined weather desks, and fewer local journalism jobs.

For decades, WAAY was a storied North Alabama broadcast institution with its own distinct identity. But after bouncing from owner to owner, most recently Byron Allen's AMG, and now landing in Gray’s duopoly stable alongside WAFF, the independent station viewers grew up with is effectively history.

This former WAAY employee’s post, sums it up well.

Welcome to modern television news in 2026.